nuts misplayed

[elysium]

hi eveyone
this hand occurred in a good 20-40 game in biloxi. something happened in it that i never really considered before.

i'm in MP on the turn with the nuts and i know that my RHO has the second nuts but thinks he has me beat. i also know that my LHO has a strong hand but any raise by me will knock him out but he will call if i call my RHO. now here's the important part; both my RHO and i have big stacks. got all that? o.k., because something happened that i've never heard mentioned anywhere before.

there is a rule in most card-rooms that if you begin a hand heads up, you can keep raising until you're all-in. i didn't consider this rule until it was too late because on the turn, i called the RHO to allow the LHO in. i reasoned at the time that there was some chance that the LHO was actually second nuts, or that if he wasn't, there was some reasonable chance of his raising if i called. well, he called.

on the river, as i knew he would, my RHO bets into me, i raise, and the LHO drops. then of course my RHO and i go back and forth raising and reraising like a couple ol' ladies. but because i failed to raise the turn when i allowed the LHO in to over-call, the river didn't start out heads up and the betting got capped.

the moral here is that if the card room has this rule that allows unlimited betting if the betting round begins heads up, do everything to get heads up on the turn if you have the nuts and you suspect your opponent has the second nuts. do not SP to allow the over-call even if you think that the LHO will fold if you raise, and the RHO will only call, even if you think there is a reasonable chance that the LHO will raise if you call. why? because if the second nuts are out there, you want to enter the next round of beting heads up. that was my big mistake for this past 4 week session. and saying 'awww come on' will not get the floorperson to suddenly change the rules when the river gets capped if the betting round started as a 3-way. awwww, did i ever feel stupid. what was i tinnin'?

[Garland]

At Lucky Chances, once the hand becomes heads up, there is unlimited raising. It doesn't matter if the street starts with 6 people, if there is 2 at any point you can keep raising until the cows come home.

The moral of all this is to know *all* the local card room rules before playing. This way you can take advantage of them when the right situations come up.

Garland

[PDosterM]

At some point, second nuts must get suspicious that he is not ahead and just call. It’s not clear how much money you cost yourself – if any.